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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Old UNreliable

We had a trusting relationship, he and I. He trusted me to feed him when he was hungry, quench his thirst when he was thirsty, and give him a good cleaning now and again. In return, I trusted him to take me to restaurants, to nights on the town, to anywhere my heart desired. I kept my end of the deal. He, on the other hand, quit on me. He left me stranded, scared, and all alone.

Oh, Mr. Mazda. What did I ever do to you?

That's right, I'm talking about my wonderful 2003 Mazda Protege. He's handsome, in his tones of champagne beige (and let me tell you, the curtains match the drapes. He's beige on the inside, too!) ;). So maybe I don't keep him properly clothed (uh... I left his winter tires on until mid-May, and the tires I have on now are threadbare...), and I do tend to wait until he's almost starving to feed him (uh... gas is expensive, so I try and wait until the best deal! I do know the gas gauge can last a lot longer than it claims...), and I know he's been thirsty for quite some time (uh... that windshield wiper fluid light always seems to be on...), but I still feel slighted.

Here's my story.

I was on my way to pick Lily up from daycare. It was one of the hottest days in a while, being 34 and feeling like 42 with the humidity. All of a sudden, I slow down to stop at a light, and my radio conks out. "That's weird." I think to myself, then I roll my eyes, remembering the coldest day of winter. "That's great. The radio stops working when it's too cold AND when it's too hot." The light turns green, and as I'm pushing on the gas, the car won't move. I push harder, and there it goes. And the radio kicks in, too! Sweet. As I'm driving, I notice the car feels a little weird, and I remember when it was hot two weeks ago and my car refused to start after I'd gotten home. We had to borrow booster cables from our awesome neighbours. Anyway, as I'm driving, the car definitely doesn't seem like itself. "I'm definitely not turning my car off when I get to daycare. I need get home!" I think. I approach the turning lane and intersection 1 minute from Lily's daycare. Lo and behold, the radio conks out again. "Uh oh," I think. I feel Mr. Mazda heave and shudder, and I keep pressing the gas a bit to try and keep him alive. Then.... nothing. He's gone. I'm sitting in the turning lane, and he's unresponsive. He won't start, won't even let out a groan. I can't even push on the brake, there's no power at all. I've never had anything like this happen, so I panic a little bit. I turn on my hazards and try and call Mike, but no answer. I call my Mom, but my phone cuts out. Finally I get a hold of Mike and he tells me to call a tow truck. But I don't know who to call! So I Google it. I call the first company I recognize - Gervais Towing. Yeah, I go by the ones I hear on the radio all the time.

It was a wonderful decision to call them! They arrived within 5 minutes, and he let me into the wonderful air conditioned truck. Hooks up Mr. Mazda (I can only think of Tow Mater fishing for Lightning McQueen here!), climbs into the truck, and asks me where I want to go.

...... Uhhh... "Where do people usually go??" I ask him. lol I'm so clueless at this. Eventually I decide we should take it to a garage.

Anyway, the tow truck driver was extremely nice. We chatted as he drove to the garage, and he gave me a ride home in this heat. He even stopped at the gas station to let me take money out to avoid paying the taxes on the tow! He didn't accept a tip. I was very grateful for his help and patience today.

Oh, Mr. Mazda? He's still at the shop. He needs a new alternator and battery. But he'll be okay. Back home tomorrow. I forgive him. He's still pretty cool :)

It was an adventure, that's for sure! And as Mr. Mazda gets older, I fear I might have more incidents like this. I hope he'll be around for a long time to come! Aren't you glad this didn't happen on a Monday? :)